The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-03-24
MYSTERIES OF PARIS,
Dark and Dangerous Resorts
OF the French Metropolis.
Vaults and Cellars Where Murderers
and Thieves Oougregate.

hiSnt some one proposed that we shouiu
visit tho cellars near the Central mar
kets, writes Paris correspondent of the
New York Sun. In the Faubourg du
Temple, at La Chapelle, and in the
neighborhood of the Place Maubert
these cellars or vaults below grog shops
are famous as the resort of thieves and
bad characters. They are among the
sights OF criminal Paris which the stran-
ger rarely visits, however much his
curiosity may have been awakened by
the descriptions given by Eugene Sue
in his "Mysteries of Paris" So
we made up a party of three, anf be-
tween 1 and in the morning we ar
rived at the Central markets. We left
them to their dreams, and descended by
narrow staircase into a series of vaults,
the whitewashcd ceilings of which were
covered with arabesques and names
written in black with the smoke of a
candle. In one part of these vaults
group of men were drinking and singing
parodes of church hymns.
This did not come up to our cxpecta-
tions, so we went to "La Jeune France"
q famous cellar where a man had been
assassnated only few nights before.
We passed through gate, down one
flight of narrow stairs, then STOPPING
low we passed under an archway re-
served in the foundations of the house,
down another flight of stairs, then
through another archway, along a tor
tuous passage, and so to tunnel about
seven feet high, five feet broad, and
twenty feet long. The vault of the roof
was covered with green trelIiswork,
there were benches and rush stools to
sit upon; wooden tables bearing the
marks of strife; and to light us, two
gas-jets. We were here at the very end
of the mousetrap, and we now under
stood why the police never enter these
"caveaux"-therc is no possibility of a
fair fight. When we entered the "ca
vcau" there was nobody there, but
after we had ordered some wine two
musicians came in. The one was a
miserable pale fellow, half starved and
half blind, with thin blonde NOUS
tache He sang and accompanied him.
, self by etriking few chords on q guitar.
The other was short, bony man, with a
black beard, drunken blue eyes, round
shoulders, and an appearance OF humlll-
ty, as ii he were constantly afraid of re-
ceivng kick. lie sang in turn, strum-
ming on a single bass chord. The tip
given by some watcher soon brought
four other vistors-a bury ruffian, who
wore huge red fez rising eighteen
inches above his crown, a young man
wearing thin cotton blouse, and two
Others dressed in cast off clothes of
fashionable cut, without vestige
of linen. The humble musician sang,
above all things, an air from 'Mignon," I"
keeping his eyes fixed on the ground as
he sang, and pointing to his heart with
an awkward gesture whenever the word
"heart" occurred in the romance. Sud-
| denly one after another half a dozen
athletic, square shouldered men, vary
| ing in age from seventeen to twenty five,
crept through the narrow archway, pass
ing rapidly in without even glancing at
! our table, and masscd themselves at the
end of the vault, lolling on tho benches,
smoking cigarettes, and drinking at our
expense, for we thopght it only polite
to offer these gentlemen glass of wine,
the more so as the musicians were play
ing for our amusement. After "Mignon'
the ruffian with the red fez asked for
the guitar, took a tuning fork out of
his pocket, snapped it with his teeth,
and tuned the instrument properly. Then
the rrffian in the cotton blouse rose and
with fac voice, perfect sentiment and
correct gestures, sang other airs from
'NIignon," and also from Carmen.
All the rutiians listened in perfect
silence to the singer, who was rea
artist, and two women who had Joined
the band melted into tears at the end,
one of them cxclaiming: "Ah, music
When l hear 'Mignon' l can't help it.
cry like calf" The scene appeared
to be idyllic rather than brigandish and
terrible. Howevever, it appeared afte
all that we might have been in bette
company, for at sign from the waiter
l slipped out of Il c vault 'You has
better give the word to your friend tt
come up stairs. The band is almos
au complet, and it is the very band tina
assassinatcd man here last week. |
their chief happens to come in you might
get in trouble" We did not wait to b.
warned twice, but wished the gentlemen
good evening. ascended the staircas
without undue precipitation, and ye
with a kind of internal sensation o
rapidity.
After leaving ola Jeuue France" W,
visited three or four less interesting cs
adjustments. 1t was the same spectacle
in each Of them. Nothing at all like tn
descriptions given by Eugene Sue, anC
the narratives of other explorers o
Paris. Caivator Rosa's brigands are a
unreal and conve.. tional as his storm,
landscapes.
A Gentle Hint.
He was an ardent but an economica